Septicemia means a condition wherein a generalized inflammatory reaction is caused because of an infection occurred somewhere in body. When this inflammatory symptom progresses, a shock symptom occurs (septic shock) and an organopathy occurs (organ failure), and further, a patient comes to have severe conditions such as a multiple organ failure.
Typical substances which occur an inflammation from an infection in this way are various kinds of cytokines and activated complements which are produced by the presence of an endotoxin in a surface of Gram-negative bacterium, and TNF-.alpha. is regarded as the most important from points of view that a blood level of TNF-.alpha. among such cytokines increases at first and that TNF-.alpha. promotes production of other cytokines.
Septicemia can be caused by Gram-positive bacterium as well as by Gram-negative bacterium. In this case, it is considered that septicemia is caused by a cytokine such as TNF-.alpha., or the like which is produced by various stimulations owing to local infections even if the endotoxin is not present. Also, in septicemia, when a blood level of TNF-.alpha. is kept high, prognosis thereof becomes bad, and the level of TNF-.alpha. reflects well a degree of severe condition ("Shucyu Ciryo" 6(2), 115-123 (1994)).
As a conventional therapy for such septicemia, there is a therapy wherein an antibiotic is administrated as an infection measures or a therapy wherein .gamma.-globulin is administrated in order to activate resistance to the infection. However, a mortality rate is still high. So, it is desired from a medical standpoint to remove from a body fluid TNF-.alpha. which is regarded as the most important among cytokines which occur inflammation.
It is known that a blood level of TNF-.alpha. becomes high in agreement with the condition of a disease in other diseases except for septicemia such as IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), the Kawasaki disease, and the like wherein an immunity abnormality is assumed as a cause of the diseases, and further, it is known that a concentration of TNF-.alpha. in joint liquid rises in the case of RA (rheumatoid arthritis) ("Nippon Rinsho", 48, irregularly, 304-311, (1990)). Accordingly, for these diseases, a therapy to remove TNF-.alpha. from a body fluid is considered.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 211900/1994 (an application by B. Brown Merzgen Aktiengesellschaft) discloses an adsorbent for removing TNF-.alpha. from a body fluid, which comprises a porous carrier to which a polyanion polymer is covalently bonded and in Example thereof a porous carrier is employed, to which a dextran sulfate is bonded.
However, it has been proved by the inventors of the present invention that in the porous carrier to which a dextran sulfate is covalently bonded, which is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 211900/1994, interaction between TNF-.alpha. and the dextran sulfate is weak and that when a liquid containing TNF-.alpha. is flowed into a column which was charged with the porous carrier to which the dextran sulfate is bonded, TNF-.alpha. is not adsorbed and it is only eluted from the column later.
Also it has been proved similarly that preferable results can not be obtained in an employment of a sulfonated polysaccharide such as a heparin or chondroitin sulfate, instead of the dextran sulfate, a polypeptide such as polyglutamic acid or polyaspartic acid, and a nucleic acid, and further a polyacrylic acid and polyvinylsulfate.